Mitzna Describes Arafat as a 'Terrorist' & Rules out Conducting Peace Talks with Him If Elected Premier in January as Israel Admits its Occupation Troops Kill U.N. Worker

24/11/2002| IslamWeb

HIGHLIGHTS UN Refutes Israeli Claims that Palestinians Fired at Occupation Troops from Inside UN Compound where Hook Was Killed|| UN Also Denies Hook Was Armed- What the Israelis Mistook for a Gun Was Only a Cell Phone|| Two Palestinian Resistance Men Blow themselves up Damaging an Israeli Naval Boat & Wounding 4 Soldiers|| Israel's Savage Response to a Recent Resistance Bombing in which 14 Israelis Were Killed Continues|| Israel Bans Fishing Off the Gaza Coast Following Saturday's Resistance Attack on an Israeli Naval Vessel||STORY: Israel admitted Saturday its occupation troops fatally shot a U.N. official during a West Bank firefight with Palestinian resistance men because Palestinians were firing at occupation troops from inside the U.N. compound and the official had what appeared to be a gun.

The United Nations denied Palestinian resistance men were in the U.N. compound and said the slain official, Iain Hook, was armed only with a cell phone he was using to try to evacuate U.N. staff.

Hook, a British senior manager of UNRWA, the U.N. agency helping Palestinian refugees, was killed Friday in the compound in the Jenin refugee camp - the first senior U.N. official to die in over two years of Israeli-Palestinian fighting.

The dispute over his death was likely to inflame long-strained relations between Israel and the United Nations: While U.N. resolutions paved the way for the creation of the Jewish state in 1948, relations have been poisoned for much of the time since.

HOOK AWARDED THE AL-QUDS SHARIF MEDAL AND DECLARED A 'MARTYR' BY PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY

Late Saturday, the Palestinian leadership decided to award Hook its highest medal, the Al Quds Sharif medal, or the Noble Jerusalem medal, and declared him a "martyr" of the Palestinian people, Palestinian officials said.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat also sent a letter of condolence to Hook's family, the officials said.

Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said the Palestinian Authority held the Israeli government "fully responsible" for Hook's death.

TWO PALESTINIAN RESISTANCE MEN BLOW THEMSELVES UP DAMAGING AN ISRAELI NAVAL BOAT & WOUNDING 4 SOLDIERS

The occupation army's preliminary findings were released Saturday amid fresh violence: Two Palestinian resistance men blew themselves up on an explosives-packed boat off the Gaza Strip, injuring four Israeli soldiers on a nearby navy patrol boat in a rare sea borne attack. The resistance Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military closed the Mediterranean waters off Gaza, barring all Palestinian fishing, after Palestinian after the boat attack.

The Palestinian vessel had entered Israeli-controlled waters off northern Gaza and was approached by an Israeli navy patrol, which fired warning shots to force the boat to turn around, an army statement said.

The boat exploded, killing two Palestinians on board. Four Israeli soldiers on the patrol boat were injured, three of them moderately and a fourth lightly, the army said.

SIX BETHLEHEM HOUSES DEMOLISHED BY OCCUPATION TROOPS

Israel also pressed its occupation of the West Bank town of Bethlehem, reoccupied Friday after a resistance bombing in Jerusalem killed 11 people. Israeli occupation troops demolished four homes of relatives of resistance men, arrested 26 people, and searched the office of Bethlehem's governor, witnesses said.

Meanwhile, Israel continued its hunt for 30 wanted resistance activists in and around Bethlehem, the hometown of the bomber in Thursday's Jerusalem bus attack.

On Saturday, Israeli forces demolished the homes of four resistance activists of the Al-Aqsa Brigades bringing to six the number of Bethlehem houses destroyed since Friday, witnesses said.

Troops also blasted open the door of the office of Bethlehem Gov. Mohammad Madini and were seen carrying out computers and boxes of papers, witnesses said. The governor was not inside at the time. Occupation army officials said occupation troops searched the office and left.

With the incursion in Bethlehem, Israel has retaken control of all Palestinian population centers in the West Bank except Jericho, as it did during major military offensives in April and June.

In a separate incident in Gaza, Israeli occupation troops entered the Rafah refugee camp, evacuated a house and then blew it up, witnesses said. Occupation Troops also demolished part of another house next door. The occupation army has destroyed dozens of houses in the area searching for tunnels it says are used to smuggle weapons from Egypt.

MITZNA DESCRIBES ARAFAT AS A 'TERRORIST' AND RULES OUT CONDUCTING PEACE TALKS WITH HIM IF ELECTED PREMIER IN THE JANUARY GENERAL ELECTIONS

Newly elected Israeli Labour Party leader, Amram Mitzna meanwhile described chairman Arafat as a terrorist. In an interview published in Germany, Mitzna added that the Oslo accords have provided an opportunity for Arafat to establish self-rule in a Palestinian state in return for putting an end to terrorism which he did not do.

Mitzna promised to resume unconditional peace talks with the Palestinians if elected premier in the coming general election on the 28th of January, 2003. 

In answer to a question on whether he would conduct these talks with chairman Arafat, Mitzna said he would negotiate with elected Palestinian representatives adding that he was sure the Palestinians would chose a new leadership because the Palestinians know that Arafat is responsible for the misery the Palestinians now find themselves in.

Arafat is known to have welcomed Mitzna's election as new Labour Party leader expressing readiness to conduct peace talks with him for implementing the 'peace of the brave' that he signed with former Israeli prime minister, Yitzaq Rabin who was assassinated in November, 1995.

PHOTO CAPTION

Palestinian boys throw stones at Israeli occupationarmy jeeps in the Deheisheh refugee camp in the West Bank city of Bethlehem during clashes November 23, 2002. (Magnus Johansson/Reuters